Book Review -Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

Aside from the fact that they are brothers, Peter and Ivan Koubek seem to have little in common.

Peter is a Dublin lawyer in his thirties—successful, competent, and apparently unassailable. But in the wake of their father’s death, he’s medicating himself to sleep and struggling to manage his relationships with two very different women—his enduring first love, Sylvia, and Naomi, a college student for whom life is one long joke.

Ivan is a twenty-two-year-old competitive chess player. He has always seen himself as socially awkward, a loner, the antithesis of his glib elder brother. Now, in the early weeks of his bereavement, Ivan meets Margaret, an older woman emerging from her own turbulent past, and their lives become rapidly and intensely intertwined.

For two grieving brothers and the people they love, this is a new interlude—a period of desire, despair, and possibility; a chance to find out how much one life might hold inside itself without breaking.

Sally Rooney

Back in the Autumn of 2021, when I first started this blog, Sally Rooney was one of the first authors I reviewed with ‘Beautiful world, where are you?’ Three years on and her stature has only grown, as shown by the number of bookshops who opened early for this books release. (Am I the only one who feels a little bit better about the state of the world when you read about people still eager to queue up and purchase complex, moving literary books about grief and relationships?)

I was a fan of her books and writing style before I started ‘Intermezzo’ but I have to say after reading this, now even more so. It took me a number of weeks to finish because I slowed my pace down to savour it. I just didn’t want to leave this world of two grieving brothers and their complicated love lives because I was totally head over heels with it.

Style

I know that some people see the words ‘Stream of consciousness’ and run a mile when it comes to books like this. My advice is - stay with it. Initially, it felt like Peter’s chapters would be the most difficult to follow - his voice is a bit more hurried and fragmented. (It’s to Rooneys credit that each characters voice is distinct). However by the end of the book, it was Peters chapters I often enjoyed the most - his storyline was more fraught and tense than the others.

I think some readers find Rooneys books difficult to begin with - no quotation marks, which some people find off putting. And perhaps if you’re really struggling, the audio might suit you better. But once you adjust to the writing voice, you’ve tapped into a rich and rewarding book.

It put me in mind of another Irish book I loved with a similar writing style - ‘Beesting’ by Paul Murray. (Imagine a chapter with both Imelda and Peter).

Emotions

Is it ok to say I shed some tears during the final chapter of ‘Intermezzo?’ That caught me by surprise, not because the book wasn’t moving at times, but it just built to this beautiful crescendo that I honestly didn’t see coming. The depiction of the brothers relationship shifted something inside of me, like a chunk coming of an iceberg.

Sally Rooney write so well about grief, and how it wrecks family ties. But relationships are incredibly nuanced and complicted and we process grief and trauma in our own way - these characters reach a level of understanding with themselves, and each other. Through talking, and open, heartfelt communication. And there’s also these anxiety inducing moments in the book when a character reveals something, only to realise they have completely misread the situation.

I also think she writes men’s interior monologues incredibly well. We all exist in social structures, carrying out roles, living a certain expected life. Earlier in the book I related more to Ivan, and he’s one of my favourite ever Rooney characters, but it was Peters later chapters that resonated with me more.

Ivan has a memory at one stage, of meeting Peter at a certain moment in his life, that changed things for me in relation to how I viewed the brothers. It’s a particular skill of Rooney’s that she can get you to care for these wonderfully detailed imaginary people that you might not initially like.

The conversations and interactions between the characters are so intimate and moving, the conflicts and what’s left unsaid all felt too real at times. Oh, and if sex scenes offend you, you might not enjoy this - but there’s an awkwardness and tenderness to some of the encounters that I also found really moving.

Summary

Part of me wants to say that ‘Intermezzo’ is my favourite Rooney novel but perhaps that’s because I didn’t enjoy ‘Beautiful world..’ as much as this. A reread of ‘Conversation with friends’ or ‘Normal people’ would likely see me change my mind again, and anyway, what’s with the constant labelling of something as ‘best’ anyway.

Sally Rooney has written four novels of such high quality at the age of 33. It’s a startling achievement, and we can only guess at what comes next.